Coffee
by Zane's Girl- Jo
Summary: Elphaba and Fiyero meet up at a coffeehouse one afternoon. AU.


**Coffee**

**Rifiuto: Non Miriena**

**Summary: Elphaba and Fiyero meet up at a coffeehouse one afternoon.**

**A/N: Some of the words are changed to fit Oz.**

Elphaba looked up to see Fiyero enter and make his way towards her. Giving him a weary smile, she stood, and let him embrace her, sharing a gentle kiss before the two sat down at the table. He asked for a cup of coffee, as Elphaba requested a refill. When the waitress had filled their cups and left, Fiyero turned to his old girlfriend.

Her head was propped on her hand, her long, slender fingers buried in her mass of curly, crinkly, coffee black, waist-length hair. Her eyes were blood shot, and she looked like she'd been splashed with a bucket of water, melted, and then come back to be splashed again. She was sniffling, and Fiyero watched as Elphaba reached up, running the heel of her free hand along the tip of her long, slender, up-turned nose.

Silent, he studied her.

She was the same beautiful, fiery, independent woman he'd known and loved in college. Her thick black hair had gotten longer; in fact, everything about Elphaba seemed long. Besides her hair and nose, the shape of her face was also long- long and sharp and pointed. The joke at Shiz had been that her sharp chin could cut through butter; Elphaba had tolerated the teasing only so long, when she'd lashed out at Avaric one evening during dinner. He'd apologized, and Elphaba had raised one perfectly plucked, arched dark eyebrow in suspicion. That was one of the things he'd loved about Elphaba- her facial features- no matter what Avaric or anyone else said.

Her dark, coffee brown eyes were what always got him. Coffee brown with a mix of caramel and royal purple flecks in beautiful, almond-shaped eyes. She had pretty, dark green, slightly- full lips. If he remembered correctly, they were soft and smooth. He noticed that the glasses she had once worn were now gone, making her pretty face even prettier. Her green skin gave her entire face a beautiful, exotic look.

She sniffled again, and the girl he'd known then was gone, replaced with the woman in front of him now. The woman who'd seen heartache and pain, love and passion, fame and success. She ran her hand through her hair, before returning it to its previous position. Her lips twitched in an attempt at a smile, and she sighed.

"You okay?" He asked. She looked at him, her dark eyes rolling towards him.

_"Do I look okay?"_ She asked, her usual sarcasm coming back with a vengance. For a moment, he saw the woman he'd fallen in love with- dated, made love to- at Shiz. For a moment, they were college students again, sharing a cup of coffee and an hour before their next class at their favorite coffee shop, as Fiyero told her about what happened in his literature class, or as Elphaba explained the fiasco Glinda had managed to concoct before first period that morning.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked." He replied, taking a sip of his coffee. She sighed and sat up, removing her hand from her hair, and wrapping it around the cup in front of her.

"No. It's not your fault. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. I just....I just....I just..... I don't know. My life just....I was....on top of the world, and then....." She imitated a rocket, her index finger going up and then coming down, as she blew a raspberry, before gesturing to show that her career had blown up, sound effects included. He chuckled softly.

"What happened, Elphaba." He asked, taking a sip of his coffee. Elphaba sighed, leaning back in her chair, arms crossed. She didn't reply. "Fae." Silence. "_Elphaba_."

Finally, she consented, sitting up and folding her arms on the table.

"All right, all right." A sigh, and she watched her index finger run over the rim of her cup multiple times. After a moment, she asked, "Did you hear about that....Glory day that's got all of Oz in a stir?"

He nodded, raising an eyebrow. "And?"

"Well, it has....to do with that."

"Okay."

She sighed, and took a sip of her coffee, making a face, her pretty, up-turned nose wrinkling in disgust.

"What?"

"Now I remember why I don't like coffee." She said, pushing the cup away. He chuckled.

"You always drink coffee."

"I know. And I don't know why." When the waitress passed, Elphaba reached out, grabbing the woman's arm. "Could I get....a hot chocolate?" She asked, as the waitress nodded, hurrying off to fulfill the request. She came back five minutes later, setting the cup in front of her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Once the waitress was gone, Fiyero turned back to Elphaba.

"Talk."

She nodded, licking her lips.

"All right. See.....I...I had just finished shooting this coffee commercial. It was a national spot in residual heaven....My boyfriend's on TV- a soap opera villian," Fiyero nodded, remembering the night he'd met Elphaba's boyfriend, Tersan something-or-other, at their school reunion. "We both lived in splendor in Emerald Hills. The Hills. The Hills. The Hills." He noticed that his old flame suffered from a slight twitch, and she had a habit of repeating certain words or phrases- caused by something, but he didn't know what- he couldn't remember Elphaba ever being addicted to anything while they were at Shiz. When the twitch stopped, Elphaba took a sip of her chocolate, before continuing.

"Life could not have been sweeter; I love the Emerald City." She smiled at him; and he smiled back, she truly did love the City, it was evident on her face. "And....we'd celebrate Sweeps Month with cocaine and vodka." She looked down, ashamed to admit her drug use to her former lover. "And.....that night....that night....we decide to go drive through the mountains, and we're laughing and speeding. I look up and the stars are so... _dazzling_, as the road spins and weaves." A dreamy look came over her, a smile resting gently on her lips, before flitting away.

"Our..." She swallowed. "Our convertible Jaguar leaps off the mountain, and thank Oz I'm too stoned to be wearing my seatbelt. So, what do I do? I go crash and tumble through cactus and sage- and in the process, breaking my arm and my nose and my jaw and my _neck_." Letting out a forced laugh, she subconsiously reached up, rubbing the back of her neck, a sheepish smile on her face. "Ouch, right?"

Fiyero stared at her. She'd broken her neck? And _survived_?

Removing her hand from her neck, she wrapped it around the cup again, the smile gone, the laugh done. Swallowing, she continued.

"So....I wake up in surgery ten hours later, to find that my agent sends flowers, my boyfriend is missing, and to_ top it off _my face is disfigured. Yeah, it's perfectly ruined." She said, answering his unasked question. "Then 'The Star' takes my picture, and I'm news for a week. _Then_....then the agency cancels my coffee commercial. So....so it's farwell, goodbye to residual heaven." She said, her voice raising an octave, as she gestured around. "But...." She started again, holding a finger up, a shaky smile on her face. "But _thank Oz_ for the morphine, _thank Oz_ for my dealer, and for the _vodka_ that mellows the coke......The coke, the coke, the coke, the coke, the coke, the coke."

The twitch was back, along with the repetition. Now he knew where it was coming from. She was a cocaine addict, and had developed such a habit for it, that her slender, small body was going through withdrawals- hence the repetition and twitch. When the twitch stopped, Elphaba choked out a laugh, looking at him.

"Yeah. I could use a little help." Tears glistened in her eyes, and, Fiyero suspected, in his eyes too. "I could use a little hope. I could use a little something that has worth, and...illuminates the _point_ of my still _being_ on this earth." She reached up, wiping the tear that ran down her cheek. "Look, I look around this earth and....I see....." She stopped, licking her lips and taking a sip of chocolate. "I see that....I don't need an agent. I...I don't need a job. And...as much as I _hate_ to admit it, I don't need the coke or booze, and I can kick them if I damn well choose, but....I could use a little.....miracle."

She looked down at the cup, running a finger over the rim again. She looked up at him through her lashes and curls.

"Yeah. I could use a little miracle."

She took another sip of chocolate, and then set the cup down, pulling out a few bills, laughing as she did so, getting up.

"See ya, Fiyero." She turned to go, pulling her sunglasses on, and then stopped, returning to his side.

"I had just finished shooting a coffee commercial, and, Fiyero, ain't it ironic? I don't drink coffee!"

She turned, leaving, the twitch and repetition caused by her withdrawal, back.

"Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee."

Her words echoed as the door closed behind her, and shaking his head, Fiyero finished his cup, set several bills on the table for the cup and tip, and got up, leaving, in Elphaba's wake- in the opposite direction- the bell over the door ringing as he left the coffee shop.


End file.
